Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Has anyone had any experience of getting their kid to give up sucking their thumb? Dentist has just told us that thumb-sucking is affecting our three and a half year old's teeth (front two teeth are starting to come forward a bit...) and that he needs to give up. Hm.


I feel he's quite young to be made to give up and don't really know where to begin! Any advice gratefully received.


Thanks.

Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/60014-thumb-sucking-advice/
Share on other sites

Had the same with my eldest. Got the anti-nailbiting liquid from the chemist and put it on his thumb and he stopped immediately - honest! I could not believe it. He is now 10.


Once he stopped thumb sucking he got sickness bugs alot less frequently - there must have been lots of germs lurking under the nail - yuck.


Hope it works.

Thanks for the advice.


Goodliz - was your son around the same age as mine when you got the anti nail-biting stuff? Brilliant that it worked so quickly...I'll definitely give it a go. We've now seen two dentists, both of whom have said that we've got to stop him doing it, preferably before he's four. I vividly remember giving up sucking my thumb aged 10 and finding it quite a challenge so just feel like it might be a long process at 3, but hopefully we'll have a similar experience to you!

I've got a 3.5 year old thumb sucker too. I've been told not to worry too much until they lose their baby teeth and adult teeth start appearing.


Out of my three kids, she is the only one that's a thumb sucker - made for pretty contented baby/toddler years, which is worth a bit of orthodontic treatment in the future in my books :)

The nail biting liquid didn't work for us either - our son simply became accustomed to it. We did contemplate buying a Thumbguard but it seemed a big outlay for something that might not work. He gave up naturally at around 5 without any huge stress as far as I can recall; he's now 8, and there are no obvious problems with his teeth as a result.


Our 4 year old is a finger-sucker and that looks like it's going to be a lot harder to put an end to...

mima08 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hiya, as an ex-thumb sucker, I really, really wish

> my parents had put a stop to it. It caused lots of

> alignment problems, I had to have years of

> treatment and I am still not happy with my teeth.I

> did stop naturally at the age of 7...


Maybe don't be too hard on your parents :). When I was pursuaded to give up thumb suking at 4/5yo, I took up nail biting as a rebound (replacement) behaviour. It has irreversibly damaged the enamel on all my incisors. It's likely that I'll have to have them all capped at some point. :(


My brother who never sucked his thumb still had terrible alignment, needed teeth pulled and braces. Unlucky!

  • 4 months later...

Just reigniting this thread.


My 4 year old sucks fingers, 2 year old sucks her thumb and just been to the dentist and told to try to make them stop. Have tried the thumbguard and nail varnish stuff but the screams were just too much for me!! Only on 4 year old...


I am nervous about trying to stop something which they use to comfort, especially as 4 year old had just started school and has a lot going on. But then I worry about not doing anything.... You get really mixed messages about what to do.


I also am aware I didn't suck at all and still had braces for 5 years!!!

I used the nail polish for nail biting. My Daughter stopped sucking her two middle fingers. However she has moved onto the small finger on her left now.


I would put the liquid on all the fingers :) I am currently putting on the liquid when she lets me as we discuss that she is a big girl now and I want her to quit on her own!!!

  • 4 months later...

We used Thumbguard with my daughters fingers which kicked the habit, nail varnish stuff wasn't popular. They suck it but it's not as satisfying so they stop slowly (or at least she did). Teeth improving since.


No 2 is 3 in 2 weeks and we are getting one for her (thumb rather than finger) we shall see..... Hubby thinks too early for a 3 year old, but hoping it will be stress red like her sister. If it gets upsetting I will leave it for a bit. Good luck!!

Thanks Undiscovered. Thumb guard solutions seem to have a lot of positive comments.


How did people persuade their kids to wear it? Did you get them involved at the point of purchase, reward charts...?


My concern is that it's quite expensive (though a good price if it works!). I can just imagine my daughter refusing point blank to wear it.


Also, there seem to be a few versions on the market. There's:


http://www.thumbguard.co.uk/


And some cheaper variants of that on ebay.


Then there are versions of this kind of colourful thumb glove:


http://thumbsie.co.uk/?gclid=CJD77fXQiMsCFa0V0wodT70JyA


Which did people use?

The dentist advised us when my son was 3 to aim to have him off it by 4 in order to limit damage. I found that telling him what the dentist said and being brutally honest with him helped so he was aware that it was damaging his teeth. We weren't too pushy and just gently reminded him to take his thumb out and do something else with his hands when he wanted to suck his thumb (he kneaded his fingers together!) . Amazingly he stopped just before his 4th bday on his own and with no nasty tasting aids!

Most kids will stop when they go to school but it's good to wean them off it before then if you can

Good luck!

Thanks etta166, I suspected as much. I don't really think my daughter is ready to stop! We've had some preliminary chats about it. I'll see what I can think of to motivate her.


I find it unhelpful that strangers on buses, other parents and even some nursery staff tease her about the thumb sucking. Random people badgering do not help, just gets her sucking harder!


Very interested to hear that you went for the thumbsie. I think this is more likely to appeal as it looks more attractive. Any other tips would be appreciated.

I have two confirmed thumb suckers aged nearly 7 and 5. Neither of them are remotely motivated to stop....the oldest one still has a bunny comforter too! I can't seem to persuade them at all and they are getting a bit old, but I don't have the heart to impose nasty tasting substances or guards on them.... But all this talk of three year olds voluntarily stopping is making me reconsider!

I don't know if anyone has something like this... My daughter's thumb sucking is strongly associated with adult hand holding. I think it's because when she was little I'd often put my hand through the cot bar to comfort her or she'd sleep holding it when she was in the carrier. The hand holding is actually the bigger issue immediately, as she scratches at cuticles and it is quite irritating. I think much of my motivation to stop the thumb sucking is to stop the associated hand holding/scratching.


Maybe I should start a post called 'comfort hand-holding/scratching advice'! We tried many, many times to substitute a soft toy/blanket for the hand, from an early age. It just didn't work.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • “There was an excellent discussion on Newscast last night between the BBC Political Editor, the director of the IFS and the director of More In Common - all highly intelligent people with no party political agenda ” I would call this “generous”   Labour should never have made that tax promise because, as with - duh - Brexit, it’s pretending the real world doesn’t exist now. I blame Labour in no small part for this delusion. But the electorate need to cop on as well.  They think they can have everything they want without responsibilities, costs or attachments. The media encourage this  Labour do need to raise taxes. The country needs it.  Now, exactly how it’s done remains to be seen. But if people are just going to go around going “la la laffer curve. Liars! String em up! Vote someone else” then they just aren’t serious people reckoning with the problem yes Labour are more than a year into their term, but after 14 years of what the Tories  did? Whoever takes over, has a major problem 
    • Messaging, messaging, messaging. That's all it boils down to. There are only so many fiscal policies out there, and they're there for the taking, no matter which party you're in. I hate to say it, but Farage gets it right every time. Even when Reform reneges on fiscal policy, it does it with enough confidence and candidness that no one is wringing their hands. Instead, they're quietly admired for their pragmatism. Strangely, it's exactly the same as Labour has done, with its manifesto reverse on income tax, but it's going to bomb.  Blaming the Tories / Brexit / Covid / Putin ... none of it washes with the public anymore  - it wants to be sold a vision of the future, not reminded of the disasters of the past. Labour put itself on the back foot with its 'the tories fucked it all up' stance right at the beginning of its tenure.  All Lammy had to do (as with Reeves and Raynor etc) was say 'mea culpa. We've made a mistake, we'll fix it. Sorry guys, we're on it'. But instead it's 'nothing to see here / it's someone else's fault / I was buying a suit / hadn't been briefed yet'.  And, of course, the press smells blood, which never helps.  Oh! And Reeve's speech on Wednesday was so drab and predictable that even the journalists at the press conference couldn't really be arsed to come up with any challenging questions. 
    • Niko 07818 607 583 has been doing jobs for us for several years, he is reliable, always there for us, highly recommended! 
    • I am keeping my fingers crossed the next few days are not so loud. I honestly think it is the private, back garden displays that are most problematic as, in general, there is no way of knowing when and where they might happen. For those letting off a few bangers in the garden I get it is tempting to think what's the harm in a few minutes of 'fun', but it is the absolute randomness of sudden bangs that can do irreparable damage to people and animals. With organised events that are well advertised there is some forewarning at least, and the hope is that organisers of such events can be persuaded to adopt and make a virtue of using only low noise displays in future.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...